Now, Two
by Animerica4
Summary: A look at N. Korea's life, APH style.


The first time he met her, he supposed, was on a warm summer day. He noticed her standing at the edge of the garden, her face barely peeking out around the side of the fence. He called out to her, which only seemed to frighten her. After a few minutes, she appeared again, and Korea got a good look at her.

She wore her hair in 2 long braids, which fell down her back. Her brown eyes glittered in light of the sun, and she was clad in the traditional dress. The girl only looked to be about 5 years old. But the more Korea studied her, the less he was certain about it. He was suddenly startled back to reality when the girl finally spoke.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with a harsh tone. Korea was taken aback.

"I live here…" he responded slowly. She narrowed her eyes.

"You're in MY land," she insisted. Korea shook his head.

"I'm afraid you have it wrong," he told her. "This is my property." The little girl glared at him and put her hands on her hips.

"Mr. Ivan told me that this is my land now. I don't know who you are, but I want you to leave this minute." Korea was surprised.

"You know Ivan?" he asked. Her response was to cross her arms. He then noticed a small birthmark on her cheek, curved and slightly glowed a light blue.

"Yes, I know him," she said, then paused, thinking. "Are you – one of – I mean, do you know Ivan's other name?" After a minute, Korea nodded. The little girl began to lose her mean act.

"I'm Korea," she said.

Pure shock; that was the first thing he felt.

-line break—

"What do you mean, your name is Korea?" Korea asked. The little girl seemed to have returned to her mean act. She was once again glaring at him.

"They said that you were slow, but I didn't believe them until now," Korea said accusingly. "Though you look a lot different than I imagined – I wasn't even sure what you looked like until now."

"Anyway, to answer your dumb question, my name is Korea because I AM Korea. But, I suppose, since you're in the south and I live in the north, you can just call me North Korea!"

-line break—

Korea sat on the edge of the table, swinging her legs back and forth. "China is good," she said happily. "Yes, I like China." She gently touched her birthmark, feeling the power of the water rush underneath her fingers.

The other Korean – the great coward – had fled as soon as war came. But she felt very much empowered by it. "I'm helping him," she said to herself. "He should really appreciate my efforts."

Jumping off the table, she made her way into the other room, where Russia was waiting. "Privyet," Russia greeted her.

"Annyeonghaseyo," she replied.

"You have grown since our last meeting," he noted. Korea nodded in satisfaction.

"I think I look about eight," Korea said, glancing down at herself. "So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Russia turned away from her. "It concerns your brother," he began. Immediately, Korea's face twisted in confusion.

"I do not have a brother," she stated.

"South Korea, your brother," Russia told her, but she shook her head firmly.

"He is just a plain nuisance, that's all he is. As far as I'm concerned, he belongs to me," she said. Russia paused for a minute, a gleam of amusement in his eyes.

"That is quite funny, you know, since he has been saying the exact same thing for a while now," Russia mused. Korea scowled deeply, choosing to look elsewhere.

The large nation turned back to the child. "You won't even call yourself North," he said.

She looked up at him, the scowl still evident on her face. "Because I absolutely refuse to be identified as a separate nation from him! I am the entire peninsula and I want to make sure that the whole world knows it."

Korea then stalked off, slamming the door as she went. Russia simply sighed, staring after her with a forlorn expression.

-line break—

_I'm much older now,_ she thought, full of pride. _I am almost as tall as South! _In reality, though, she knew that she only had the appearance of a twelve year old girl. It was August 1953, and a long battle had just ended, although no one was quite sure who won.

But North Korea didn't really care. She was still somewhat crushed over the fact that full reunification was unable to be achieved. She kicked a rock, watching it roll away into the grass. "I was just trying to help him," she mumbled, though she now wondered if she was only thinking blindly.

She raised her head and stared out across the fields, the tall grass being blown in the wind. _How ironic, that I call myself a democratic republic and yet we follow communism._

The wind started to whistle fiercely, and she figured that it was time to go home.

_Home_

If it was possible for a town to look dead, this one surely did. The streets had been completely abandoned, all the shops closed. North Korea began to hum her anthem quietly.

_I wonder if I'm going to go to bed feeling empty tonight._

-line break—

"Am I supposed to regret this?" she asked him.

"You weren't even supposed to try it," he shot back.

"It was not my idea; it was…my government," she told him.

South Korea had calmed down a little bit, even though the event had happened just hours before. "You tried to kill another one of my presidents! The past attempts – they are nothing. What sick person tries to _blow up _someone?"

She winced at the word 'sick'. "I told you, it wasn't my idea."

He spun around to face her, his anger returning at full force. "Oh, and I suppose that _invading _me wasn't your idea either, was it? Any more lies that you want to tell?"

There was a tense silence. Then North Korea spoke again. "Maybe I'm not the best nation, but I believe that what my government is doing is right. I don't care if you disagree with me or not, because it won't change my opinion. And this is the only time you'll hear me say that I am sorry."

Neither of them said anything for a couple of minutes. Finally, South Korea did.

"I do disagree with you, North. I just think that you're a pretty nice person, only very misguided."

"So, what do you want me to be, huh? An honest person?" she asked.

"No, I just want you to be a better person. Can't you see what your leader is doing to your people?"

-line break—

It was a mostly quiet day, she remembered, all while feeling only a pang of hollowness at the memory.

_"I see why you hate America so much," he idly commented, leaning against her porch railing. She held a cup of tea in her hands, watching him with a distant look in her eyes. "But we all make mistakes, don't we?"_

_ "Yes," she agreed. "Although I fail to understand why America glorifies freedom so much. Nothing's wrong with it – I like democracy just as much as the next person. But I am more inclined toward the proletariats, the common people of the world. After all, isn't that what communism is all about?" North Korea turned to him._

_ South Korea was quiet for a while. "Obviously, freedom means so much to America that he'd go so far as to sink one of my ships. Or was he just framed?" He looked at her with a judging glare in his eyes._

_ She put down her teacup and took a deep breath. "Look, I know that we don't always get along, but I do hope that we can agree on something for once here. I did not sink anything…"_

_ "But your government did, right?" he asked her. "Stop denying responsibility for your actions. I know that we nations can't always control what our governments do – but for the most part, we have a pretty big say in what happens in our country."_

North Korea smiled bitterly. "You don't understand me," she whispered to the darkness.

-line break—

Sports

If there was one constant thing that North Korea loved in this world, it was sports. Basketball, gymnastics, boxing, etc, you name it and she's played it at least once in her life. She highly preferred boxing over any other sport, however.

She knew that the other nations thought ill of her, and maybe their thoughts were justified when she lost against Portugal and Brazil. North Korea looked down on them, seeing them only as lesser, feeble nations.

Though she _did,_ sort of, like Portugal's Mediterranean weather. She was snapped out of her reverie by an all – too familiar voice nearby.

Her "brother" was standing in the front hallway, frowning at her. Somehow, just seeing him there only served to darken North Korea's mood.

"Why are you here?" she asked, simple and straight to the point.

"I was just…worried about you…a little bit," he replied, still frowning. "You are indoors way too much, Young – Il."

North Korea assumed her "dead stare" and focused it on him. "Don't. Use. My. Human. Name…_Im_," she threatened. He put up his hands.

"If I want to spend my time inside, then I'll do it. And there's no one who can tell me otherwise!" she shouted. "Who do you think you are, my leader? You might be my so – called brother but you sure don't act like it, do you?"

He stared at her for a minute. "Look, the only reason that I came here is to ask if you wanted to play a game of badminton."

She considered it. "Alright," she told him. "I don't see anything wrong with that. What are the rules?"

That would be the last time that he would visit her.

_**A/N: Yeah, I know, I should be working on **__**Ribbons. **__**But this was an idea that I've had for a while. I'm not actually sure if I can finnish it. **__**Finnish**__**? Finish. (I was listening to a Finnish band that played in the Eurovision last year…subliminal influence…O.O)**_

_**Anyway, not sure if I can complete the Ribbons story right now. Damn, I get distracted easily, don't I?**_

_**Shortly after WWll, the Provisional People's Committee of N. Korea was set up by Kim Il – Sung. **_

_**North Korean forces overtook their southern counterpart on July 25, 1950. The US came into the South and when they got too close to the Chinese border, the Chinese came to the aid of N. Korea.**_

_**North Korea's birthmark represents the Yalu (also called Amnok) and Tumen rivers which make up the border between North Korea and China.**_

_**The end of the Korean War happened in July 1953.**_

_**The South Korean government accused N. Korea of trying to bomb their president. (He luckily survived).**_

_**North Koreans love sports, they are just crazy about them.**_

_**Well, I hope that you like this story and also don't find my interpretation of North Korea TOO offensive…**_


End file.
